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3232How Are You Preparing for 2020’s Microsoft End-of-Support List?https://inicorp.net/how-are-you-preparing-for-2020s-microsoft-end-of-support-list/
https://inicorp.net/how-are-you-preparing-for-2020s-microsoft-end-of-support-list/#respondSun, 01 Sep 2019 13:30:40 +0000https://inicorp.net/?p=79118If you’re like most businesses, you’ve been seeing notifications start to surface about a daunting change to your business. Coming January 14, 2020, Microsoft® will no longer be providing support for a long list of Microsoft products and solutions. These notifications can be easily closed, and users can even check the “do not notify me again” option.

Have you been ignoring them? Let’s look at why you shouldn’t, and how you can be fully prepared when End of Support becomes a reality this January.

What Does End-of-Support Mean?

This 2020 deadline marks the point at which any solutions on the list will no longer be supported by Microsoft, which means anyone still using these solutions will no longer be able to receive direct support from Microsoft. It also means your users might start running into less-than-ideal experiences. But neither of these issues are your biggest concern. The major risk of not updating your solutions is that you’ll be opening up your systems and users to significant risks. Without ongoing updates and patches from Microsoft support, your outdated solutions will leave the door wide open for security failures and serious compliance risks.

How Can You Prepare?

You have a few options if you’re a business customer. You can pay for extended support or buy Windows Virtual Desktop, but both of those options are an extra cost and even that extended support will have an expiration date.

Your final option is to choose to upgrade your Microsoft solutions, but that means:

Creating and communicating an exit strategy for your existing solutions

Upgrading all of your existing solutions

Managing any training needed for users on upgraded solutions

It’s a lot to manage, and doing it right could mean a full-time resource dedicated to managing the exit, the upgrades and the proactive forward management of your solutions care. If you’re working with a small team or a small budget, it might be particularly tough to dedicate a single resource to your Microsoft solutions updates.

How We Can Help

If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. Thankfully, you don’t have to go it alone. We’re your partner in making this transition simple and seamless. Let us take on the entire process and any other IT support you’re looking for – while you focus on everything else your business needs for growth. Contact us today and let’s talk about how we can help.

]]>https://inicorp.net/how-are-you-preparing-for-2020s-microsoft-end-of-support-list/feed/0How Business Continuity Plans Differ from Disaster Recovery Planshttps://inicorp.net/how-business-continuity-plans-differs-from-disaster-recovery-plans/
https://inicorp.net/how-business-continuity-plans-differs-from-disaster-recovery-plans/#respondThu, 01 Aug 2019 21:00:46 +0000https://inicorp.net/?p=79115Nobody likes to think about worst-case scenarios when it comes to theirbusiness. Unfortunately, your company is susceptible to a wide variety of natural disasters, building structure fires and cybersecurity attacks.

To be prepared for the worst, some companies create a disaster recovery plan to help get them back up and running. But what about a business continuity plan?

One misconception is that if your company has a disaster recovery plan, then you don’t need a business continuity plan. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Here is why you need a business continuity plan and how it can help your company.

What’s the Different Between These Plans?

A disaster recovery plan is the process to get your company’s IT operational following a cyberattack, human error, hardware failure, building fire or natural disaster.

Disaster recovery plans only focus on IT while a business continuity plan has a much broader scope. Business continuityplans are detailed outlines, including the procedures and instructions businesses need to follow to get back up and running following a crisis. Business continuity plans have contingencies for each aspect of your business, such as operational processes, assets, human resources, etc.

How BusinessContinuity Plans Help Your Company?

When disaster strikes, the longer your company is offline or nonoperational hurts your bottom line. According to Gartner, every minute your company IT is down cost $5,600 per minute. With those stakes, you don’t have time for a confused staff asking you, “What do we do?”

With a business continuity planin place, your company will know what to do if a crisis strikes. Key stakeholders will be able to direct others on what’s needed based on the severity of the crisis.

What’s in a Business Continuity Plan?

Several steps go into creating a well-rounded plan.

The first step is to conduct a business impact analysis. This is the time to take inventory of your resources, figure out which business functions will need to be addressed first to get the business running again and what resources will be required to do it. Click here to download FEMA’s free Business Impact Analysis worksheet.

The next step is developing recovery strategies. These are plans that detail the steps needed to be taken to get the company back up to the minimum operating levels. Also, this is the step to address any potential gaps in your plan regarding resources, personnel or processes.

The third step is developing a plan framework on how the continuity plan will be executed during a crisis. To help the plan run more efficiently for larger companies, organize a team comprised of people from each department to map out their department-specific continuity plans.

If you don’t have one already, this would also be a great time to draft an IT disaster recovery plan. Also, document any manual workaroundsso your team can access key programs remotely in the event of the network going down.

The final step is to test your plan. Conduct training and exercises so everyone knows what to do if a crisis occurs. If you find a gap or problem during training, update your plan accordingly and then test again.

How We Can Help

For small and medium-sized businesses, it can be a daunting task creating a business continuity plan from scratch. To help streamline this process, our team of experts walks you through every step, from completing a business impact analysis to testing and revising your plan.

Don’t stress about the future of your business.Contact us to find out how we can help.

]]>https://inicorp.net/how-business-continuity-plans-differs-from-disaster-recovery-plans/feed/05 Tools to Improve Project Managementhttps://inicorp.net/5-tools-to-improve-project-management/
https://inicorp.net/5-tools-to-improve-project-management/#respondWed, 01 May 2019 20:43:02 +0000http://intuitivenet.wpengine.com/?p=79065A study by Hive found that 77 percent of high-performing projects use project management (PM) software. Considering that fact, it’s a surprise that a survey by Wellingtone found only 22 percent of organizations have a PM software in place.

This means that, despite the benefits of leveraging a project management platform, the average business misses out on crucial success opportunities. A PM software solution gives you better visibility into and control over deployments, process changes and projects. Plus, it increases communication between your teams, improving productivity and removing implementation roadblocks.

But, how do you know which PM software solution is right for your business? Start with the pros and cons of the top five solutions:

Basecamp

Pros: Basecamp offers a separate dashboard to show clients, meaning you can collaborate with the team and discuss ideas while presenting polished plans of action to your clients. Plus, Basecamp is free to use for teachers and students.

Cons: While you can organize tasks into projects, you can’t link them to each other. This limits visibility between departments and team members unless you remember to tag team members into your task.

Asana

Pros: Asana is a simple-to-use platform that works best with small teams or simple projects. Each task is transparent and gives your entire department visibility into its progress and which team member is responsible for it.

Cons: It doesn’t accommodate complex projects and limits task assignees to one person. If too many tasks are created within the same project, the UI begins to slow down and hurts your productivity.

Trello

Pros: Trello provides a more visual approach to project management. When you create a task and assign it to a team member, that team member can drag and drop their notecard to change the status of the task.

Cons: If you have a lot of tasks under a single project, the dashboard becomes cluttered and overwhelming to look through. And, for a visual platform, it limits your visibility by not featuring an overview layout.

Jira

Pros: Jira lets you create epics, stories and tasks to keep your projects organized. You can prioritize your tasks and automate your workflow to make reassigning tasks a seamless experience. This platform also provides its own time-tracking feature.

Cons: While creating multiple tasks under a single project is helpful, it can quickly become cluttered, and its complex platform creates a sharper learning curve for your team.

Scoro

Pros: The only other time-tracking platform on this list, Scoro provides detailed reporting tools and safely stores all of your important information in one central place. It integrates your business calendar and meeting schedule to keep your team connected and provide visibility on availability.

Cons: The platform is a bit tricky to learn, and the number for their support team isn’t easy to find. Also, users are often overwhelmed with updates – from essential glitch fixes to unnecessary font changes.

While all of these project management software solutions provide a platform where you can create tasks, assign them to team members and monitor progress, some work for your business better than others.

For more information on project management solutions and how we can protect your PM software, contact us today.

“How do I defend my data against the next generation of cyber threats?”

If you’ve asked any of these questions, you’re not alone – trying to prepare for the future while balancing day-to-day responsibilities is a tough task for even the most dedicated business owners. Fortunately, you don’t have to be an IT expert to tackle these challenges. A virtual Chief Information Officer (vCIO) offers expertise in a flexible, cost-effective manner that suits small and medium-sized businesses.

Here are three reasons your business needs a vCIO:

Your employees need more flexibility.
If you have employees who work remotely, while traveling or from home after business hours, you have a mobile workforce – whether you’re equipped for one or not. You need processes in place to maximize their productivity and secure business data across corporate and personal devices. Virtual CIOs help you consider factors such as applications, support, ownership, security and communication policies to develop a strategy that fits your business. Cisco reports that companies with Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) processes save an average of $350 per year, per user – a vCIO can help you claim those savings for your organization with simple and secure access to data, tools and applications from any location.

New technology can solve your headaches.
Technology is constantly evolving, but as a business owner, you probably don’t have time to research every emerging technology – or the insight to understand which ones will produce long-term results and which are just fads. Virtual CIOs are plugged into the rapidly-changing world of technology and can help you identify new developments that reduce costs and increase efficiency. By thoroughly understanding your business’s pain points, they are in an ideal position to recommend solutions that will help your team now and into the future. A vCIO can also periodically evaluate your existing technology to discover new opportunities and assist with putting together a business case for new solutions.

Cyberattacks are on the rise.
The news is full of stories about the hacking of large companies – Marriott, Macy’s, The New York Times, and even tech companies such as Apple, Twitter, Facebook and Microsoft. Unfortunately, hackers don’t just target big companies – a study by Symantec found that 36 percent of recent attacks targeted businesses with fewer than 250 employees. No matter the size of your organization, security is an essential factor for all businesses. A vCIO oversees risk assessments, data protection, training awareness and third-party security practices to mitigate the possibility of attacks or breaches. They can also handle identity and access management to allow only authorized users to access sensitive corporate data.

Virtual CIOs can handle other challenges, such as helping you resume operations after a disaster, overseeing special initiatives and keeping your IT costs from ballooning. To discuss how a vCIO can impact your business, contact us today.

]]>https://inicorp.net/3-reasons-your-business-needs-a-vcio/feed/0Finding the Right Cloud-Based Collaboration Tool for Your Businesshttps://inicorp.net/finding-the-right-cloud-based-collaboration-tool-for-your-business/
https://inicorp.net/finding-the-right-cloud-based-collaboration-tool-for-your-business/#respondFri, 01 Mar 2019 20:34:32 +0000http://intuitivenet.wpengine.com/?p=79061The cloud hosts hundreds of tools and applications designed to improve security and collaboration, streamline operations and project management, and enhance your existing solutions. But, knowing which cloud-based tools are right for your business is harder than you think.

From the cost of the application to how well it integrates with your current services, a lot goes into the decision of adopting a new app or tool. Ease the burden of researching hundreds of products by using our chart to compare some of the leading cloud-based collaboration tools.

Instant Messenger Solutions

Slack vs. HipChat

Cost/User

Starts from $6.67

Starts from $2.00

Subscription Style

Free, Monthly, Annual

Monthly

Chat Limitations

Unlimited Conversation Channels

Unlimited Chatrooms

Security

Two-Factor Authentication

SSL Encryption Security

Integration Options

Integrates with File Sharing Apps and Other Solutions

Drag & Drop File Sharing

While on the surface Slack looks like a more expensive choice, their free subscription offers a stripped-down option for an unlimited number of users. Their free and paid options leverage a variety of features including synchronization, data security and encryption, iOS and Android apps, file sharing and browsing, voice and video calls, webhooks and more.

HipChat may not have as many features as Slack, but it provides a solid communication option for small businesses or organizations on a limited budget. With features like screen and file sharing, synchronization, and voice and video calling, HipChat makes it easy to share ideas across an unlimited number of chatrooms. But, they only offer a free 30-day trial version before you’re faced with the decision to buy a monthly subscription.

Office Suite Solutions

Office 365 vs. G-Suite

Cost/User

Starts from $5

Starts from $5

Subscription Style

Monthly

Monthly

File Storage

Up to 1TB/User

Up to 30GB/User

Security

Two-Factor Authentication

Two-Factor Authentication

Integration Options

Integrates with Most Other Solutions

Integrates with Some Solutions

Microsoft has been in the cloud-documents game a little longer than Google, and their subscription plans show it. From Office 365 Business Essentials to Enterprise E5, Microsoft has a plan for any size business. Office 365 offers 1TB of file storage per user – and that’s over and above email storage in Outlook. Due to its popularity, Office 365 integrates with most existing solutions and also provides Yammer and Stream as services in its package.

While G Suite counts email toward your storage space, their Business plan offers unlimited storage if you buy more than five user accounts. For the right business, that provides the most cost-effective solution. G Suite is also extremely scalable and doesn’t restrict your plans to the number of users. Plus, you gain the option to create both G Suite and Office 365 documents – giving you the best of both worlds for a single price.

Video Conferencing Solutions

Cisco Webex vs. Skype for Business

Cost/User

Starts from $19.00

Starts from $2.00

Subscription Style

Monthly, Annual

Free, Monthly, Annual

Chat Limitations

Up to 100 People/Meeting

Up to 250 People/Meeting

Security

Multi-Layered Solution

Authentication & Encryption

Integration Options

Integrates with Dropbox, Jira and Most Other Solutions

Integrates with Office 365, Slack and Most Other Solutions

Cisco Webex starts at a steep price for an annual subscription, but as a leader in security, Cisco brings a multi-layered security solution that keeps users protected and messages encrypted. Webex doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of Skype for Business, but it’s easy to navigate and provides a more reliable connection.

Skype for Business provides a variety of features from one-to-one video calls and voice messages to group screen sharing and more. With security solutions that keep unauthorized users out and data encrypted, you can feel safe conversing with clients, peers and prospects. Skype for Business seamlessly integrates with Office 365 and provides Microsoft plans like Business Essentials and Business Premium.

While the cloud may offer hundreds of different collaboration tools, not all of them are right for your business. We’ll help you evaluate your issues and determine which solutions are the perfect fit for your business.

For more information on the leading cloud-based collaboration tools and how they can influence your business, contact us today.